John Keding, nearing 85^th birthday, could fix anything

Photos by Tom Rivers: John Keding, owner of Keding Automotive on East Avenue in Albion, has his last day of business on Wednesday. He has been working as a mechanic since he was 14.

ALBION – John Keding – a mechanic since he was 14, first fixing lawn mowers – is finally calling it a career. His last day of business will be Wednesday. He has been working for 70 years.

Keding, who is two weeks from his 85^th birthday, said he will miss his customers and daily interactions out in the community.

Keding put an ad in this past weekend’s Lake Country Pennysaver, announcing his retirement. Today, the phone rang often with congratulations.

Linn and Sarah Beckwith, customers for about 20 years, showed up in person with cookies and cards for Keding, office manager Karen Dibley and mechanic Shawn Deibel.

John Keding is shown in the shop today with mechanic Shawn Deibel and office manager Karen Dibley.

Mr. Beckwith said Keding has unquestionable honesty, and would spring into action for his customers.

“He provided very good service over the years,” said Mrs. Beckwith. “I had a lot of emergencies. He had quite a team here. We’re going to miss them.”

Keding said he is selling the building at 309 East Ave. to his daughter Christine and son-in-law Michael Buorgiorne. It will be the base for Buorgiorne’s construction business.

When Keding started as a mechanic when he was a teen-ager, he installed turning lights and fixed lawn mowers.

He learned the auto mechanic trade at the General Motors Institute in Flint, Mich., beginning the two-year program in 1953. He worked for General Motors for three years before a two-year stint in Army at Fort Dix from 1958 to 1960.

He returned to Albion in 1960 and worked as a mechanic for a car dealership for 13 years before a brief stint as an electrician.

He opened his own business at the East Avenue location in January 1974. Keding said the work has become more high-tech with problems in cars more difficult to diagnose due to computers and electronics in vehicles.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said about his career. “It’s something I always wanted to do.”

Shawn Deibel, 25, has worked with Keding the past eight years, starting in high school.

“John has been a good teacher,” Deibel said. “He has always been accepting and if I needed help he would lend a hand. He has been a wealth of knowledge.”

Karen Dibley has worked as the office manager for the past 14 years. She will be taking a job at the high school as a teacher’s aide.

“He has a love for the job,” Dibley said about Keding. “If it came in broken, he could fix it. He has really enjoyed being out in the community.”

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans County has been on a rainbow run in recent weeks, with the multi-colored arcs emerging in the sky soon after a rain. This evening a bright-colored rainbow appeared at about 7:30.

The top photo shows the rainbow with the First Presbyterian Church of Albion.

Here the rainbow is pictured with a banner of Craig Lane, a major in the U.S. Air Force. The banners of local soldiers went up in late June and feature 33 people from the community who served in the military. This one is on East Bank Street.

The rainbow stretches over the County Clerks Building and the Orleans County Courthouse.

The courthouse dome has a special shine with the rainbow close by.

Downtown Albion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, provided a nice setting for the bold rainbow.

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The Pate family – sisters Maia, left, and Eowyn with their parents, Angelo and Ondrea. There will be a benefit on Aug. 30 at the Elks Lodge in Albion from noon to 6 p.m.

ALBION – There will be a benefit on Aug. 30 for an Albion family who has been displaced from their home after a fire on June 20.

Angelo and Ondrea Pate and their two daughters, Eowyn and Maia, are currently staying with Ondrea’s father Richard Brackenbury in Waterport.

The Pate residence on West Academy Street was damaged in an early morning fire. The cupola on the house burned and flames spread inside the home. It is a total loss.

Mrs. Pate said the family is awaiting action from their insurance company, but they were told it could take a year.

“We’re still in limbo,” she said today. “We’re taking it one day at a time.”

The family would like to stay in Albion so Eowyn can finish her senior year and Maia, an incoming freshman, can also graduate from Albion.

During the fire, Ondrea’s daughter Felicia was also in the house with her four children. They were visiting from the state of Alabama and have since returned.

Noreen Dixon and her sister Donna Halladay are organizing the Aug. 30 benefit. The Pates were great neighbors to their mother, Marguerite, checking in on her frequently, and responding in the middle of the night if she needed help.

“They have been so great to my mother,” Dixon said today. “They would do so much for her, and take her calls at all hours.”

The benefit at the Elks Lodge includes beef on wick dinners for $10, raffles, a Chinese auction and a candy bar. There will also be live music with the event outside at the pavilion as well as inside. There will also be take-outs available. Organizers are preparing for 500 dinners.

“They have pretty much lost everything,” Dixon said. “It’s a horrible thing to go through.”

For more on the benefit, click here.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Pate family’s home on West Academy Street was badly damaged in a fire on June 20.

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District has ‘Thought exchange’ on school website to post concerns and questions

ALBION – The school district has scheduled three virtual parent forums on Aug. 19 to discuss the district’s reopening plan.

Scott Bischoping, the interim superintendent, will go over the reopening plan and also will take calls and emails during the forum. Parents also can call in at 589-2078 or send an email to Covid19Coordinator@albionk12.org.

The forums at 10 a.m., 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. will be held on the ACS YouTube channel. Each forum time has a different link. (Click here to be directed to the links for each forum.)

If parents are unavailable on Aug. 19, recordings of each meeting will be available to watch on our YouTube channel. Parents can continue to send emails to Covid19Coordinator@albionk12.org.

Albion also has a “Thought exchange” on the district website. School district stakeholders can click on the link, post thoughts, concerns or questions regarding reopening of our schools, and then have others rate it. They can also rate other stakeholder thoughts.

When more people rate the responses, district officials start to see a clearer picture of topics that are more of a concern.

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Matthew Farley is in intensive care after suffering third-degree burns during from a grease fire on Tuesday night.

ALBION – The mother of an Albion man who suffered third-degree burns in a grease fire on Tuesday night has started a GoFundMe to help pay for his medical care.

Matthew Farley was cooking in the kitchen at his West State Street residence when he suffered severe burns at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

His mother, Staci Donnelly, says he has third-degree burns throughout his body and is in intensive care at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

“He will need much time in the hospital, and then a long road of physical therapy,” she posted on GoFundMe. “He will have to relearn many skills after his burns have healed. We are looking at a very long road ahead of us.”

She also asked the community to keep her son in their prayers.

“Please lift him up in prayer as we all know the power of prayer in numbers,” she said.

Click here to be directed to the GoFundMe for Farley.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: A crowd of about 1,000 people attended the National Night Out at Bullard Park in Albion on Aug. 6, 2019. One highlight was the “Battle of Belts.” Dillon Black, front right, and Dan Baase, both of the Albion Police Department, were part of a four-man team of law enforcement officers. They topped two other adult teams with a time of 51.39 seconds. The teams compete to see who is the fastest getting into car and fastening their seatbelts. Each member then must switch seats and again fasten their seat belts. The time ends when each person has sat in each seat in the car and the horn is honked.

Press Release, Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni

ALBION – It is with deep regret that we must announce that the 2020 National Night Out Event is being cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.

The event was postponed from its original date of August 4 to October 6 with the hopes that the risks associated with Covid-19 would be mitigated by October. While we as a community have done an amazing job to control the infection rate, we cannot guarantee that our event could be held in a manner to keep people safe.

This is very unfortunate as the event helps connect people in need with resources that can be life changing. This is at a time when those resources are needed more than ever.

The National Night Out Committee has worked very hard to make this year’s event better than ever and we vow to make next year’s the best we have ever held.

The committee will continue to work hard to prepare for next year’s event. Any donations that were made to the event will be applied to next year’s event unless they are requested to be refunded. Next year’s event will be held on August 3, 2021 at Bullard Park.

Below is a list of past participants that may can be contacted if anyone needs that assistance that they offer to our community.

• Orleans United Drug Free Communities Coalition
• Tobacco Free GLOW
• Parent Network of WNY
• Oak Orchard Health
• OCALS Learning Services
• Catholic Charities Friendly Phones & Home Visitation Program
• Orleans County YMCA
• Care Net Center of Greater Orleans
• Light of Victory Church
• Albion Free Methodist Church Youth & Kids Ministry
• MHA of Genesee & Orleans County
• Orleans County STOP DWI
• ABCD at Holley
• Orleans County Child & Family Services
• Orleans Community Health
• Orleans County Department of Mental Health
• Medina Area Association of Churches (MAAC)
• The Arc of Genesee/Orleans Rainbow Preschool
• Community Action of Orleans & Genesee Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R)
• Orleans County Health Department
• Orleans County Suicide Prevention Coalition
• Fidelis Care
• Genesee/Orleans Ministry of Concern- Just Friends Youth Mentoring Program
• Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
• OC Valor MRC
• Hoag Library
• Orleans County Chamber of Commerce
• PACT
• Early Head Start Child Care Partnership
• ACT – Helping Youth ACT Responsibly
• Albion Lions Club

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A new tugboat (second from left) named after Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a famed leader of the women’s suffrage movement, moves a barge in Albion on Monday, just east of the Ingersoll lift bridge.

The State Canal Corp. was trimming vegetation along the canal banks. The other tugboat at far left also is a new model of a tugboat on the canal.

The new tugboat was dedicated on May 17, 2019 in Rochester to start the canal’s navigational season.

Coline Jenkins, Stanton’s great-great granddaughter, was on hand to dedicate the 26-foot vessel, which is stationed at the Canal maintenance facility in Albion.

The Elizabeth Cady Stanton is shown Friday on the Erie Canal in Albion, between the lift bridges on Main Street and Ingersoll Street.

The Erie Canal, which opened for its 196th season this year, played a significant role in the women’s rights movement. In the 1800s, the canal was like an interstate highway. It was frequently traveled between Seneca Falls and Rochester as Cady Stanton and her fellow suffragists coordinated their campaign for women’s rights.

Seneca Falls, which is part of the state’s canal system, hosted the first women’s rights convention on July 19-20, 1848.

Cady Stanton was one of the key leaders of the convention and the movement. She was the primary author of the Declaration of Sentiments, a manifesto that called on women to fight for their Constitutionally guaranteed right to equality as U.S. citizens.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Mike Grabowski makes the cole slaw in the kitchen at the Elks Lodge this morning in preparation for the chicken barbecue and “Un-Lawn Fete” for the Holy Family Parish in Albion.

The church had 540 dinners available and they all sold ahead of time. They meals will be served by drive-through only in takeouts from 11:30 to 3:30 at the Elks Lodge on West State Street, drive-through only for takeouts.

“This is the 26th straight year for this wonderful opportunity to get friends and parishioners together—be it with a distance-required aspect,” Father Richard Csizmar, the parish priest, said in a message to parishioners. “This will help us meet the financial needs of our parish, especially our annual insurance obligations. Thanks to all those who have prepared so much for this day and those who will attend.”

The event also includes 50 baskets will also be up for raffle at the church grounds at 106 S. Main St. The basket raffle starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 4 p.m. The cash prize raffle includes two prizes of $500 and five prizes of $100.

This group preps the plastic bags for the takeouts. They include from left: Joan Adduci, Jean Shervin (in back), Lorriane Dibley and Michelle Grabowski.

Tony Navarra cooks the salt potatoes in the kitchen.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A crew from Russia reached Orleans County today as part of an epic journey in an 18^th century replica boat named Pilgrim. The Densmore Road bridge is in the background.

They are shown approaching the Keitel Road canal bridge in Albion at about 2:30 p.m. They left Spencerport this morning and reached Medina later in the afternoon.

Click here to see a video of the boat approaching and passing underneath the Keitel Road bridge.

According to media reports, including Rochester journalist John Kucko, the boat has already traveled 11,000 miles nautical miles in the past two years.

Sergey Sinelnik is the captain and has long dreamed of sailing around the world. He is leading the crew to Duluth, Minnesota. Duluth is the sister city of his Russian hometown.

The boat passes by the Keitel Road bridge and heads west by farmland in Albion.

The group will push to reach Alaska after being in Minnesota. Then the boat will be taken to Seattle where it will then continue the trip by water. Kucko said the crew has about another year of travelling as part of the journey.

The boat reaches Albion and is between the two lift bridges, with the Ingersoll lift bridge in the upright position. The crew was friendly, waving to the many onlookers getting a glimpse of the boat, which is 42 foot long, 14 tons with three masts.

The Main Street lift bridge goes up for the boat.

Click here to see a video of the bridge and the boat.

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Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Cole and Kerri Glover, right, donated $1,000 to the Orleans Community Health Foundation on Wednesday. They are social distancing while presenting a check to Jeanne Crane (left) who is president of Foundation and Heather Smith, who is the executive director.

The Glovers are the new owners of the former Pillars on West Countyhouse Road in Albion. They are turning the property into Maison Albion, which will be decorated in a French theme and will host weddings and other events.

They had an estate sale at the property on Saturday. One large elephant figure, which was a prop in a film, was auctioned off with proceeds going to the Hospital Foundation.

The Whitehall Mansion in Brockport bought the elephant for $700. The Glovers added $300 to make the donation $1,000.

The $1,000 will go towards the “Say Boo to the Flu” program run by Jessica Capurso, out of the Community Partners department at Orleans Community Health.  Community Partners collaborates with Albion Rotary and Leon’s Gift in Memory of Leon Sidari to educate the community on the importance of flu vaccinations for youth. This year they are focused on expanding the program and these funds will greatly help facilitate any additional needs they will have for another successful year.

The Glovers said they plan to make Maison Albion available for free for 10 community fundraisers each year. Mrs. Glover urged people to reach out to her at bonjour@maisonalbion.com for more information.

This elephant sold as a fundraiser for the Orleans Community Health Foundation.

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